Take music, add coffee: Hangout Fest a new favorite for food-truck entrepreneur

Beach weather from the Gulf of Mexico, music from everywhere, coffee from … Michigan?

Meet the Bearclaw Coffee truck. And another option your high school guidance counselor never bothered to mention: Driving from music festival to music festival, caffeinating happy people.

The man with the keys to the bright orange Sprinter 3500 prominently parked inside the Hangout Music Fest is Doug Scroggins. About 15 years ago, he said, he and his wife Debi founded Bearclaw Coffee in Michigan. Today the small chain consists of five cafes, all in that home state. Bearclaw always did some catering, Scroggins said, but about three or four years ago, he and Debi got serious about the trucks. The bricks-and-mortar cafes are now franchised, while he and Debi oversee the fleet of four trucks.